Identity

By Milan Kundera, Translated from French by Linda Asher

There are situations in which we fail for a moment to recognize the person we are with, in which the identity of the other is erased while we simultaneously doubt our own. That also happens with couples — indeed, above all with couples, because lovers fear more than anything else “losing sight” of the loved one.

With stunning artfulness in expanding and playing variations on the meaningful moment, Milan Kundera has made this situation —...